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Bishop Angaelos

His
Grace Bishop Angaelos

General Bishop of Coptic
Orthodox Church

in the United Kingdom

Biography

His
Grace Bishop Angaelos, is General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the
United Kingdom, and is widely recognised for his extensive advocacy work. As a
result he was conferred with the honour of Officer of the Most Excellent Order
of the British Empire by Her Majesty The Queen, for ‘Services to International
Religious Freedom’. He has also been conferred with the Lambeth Cross for
Ecumenism by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Coventry Cross of Nails for
Reconciliation. With a pastoral ministry spanning two decades, Bishop Angaelos
also specialises in youth ministry and travels extensively around the world to
speak at youth conferences and conventions.

Having
commenced his pastoral ministry in the United Kingdom in 1995 as a parish
priest, His Grace Bishop Angaelos was consecrated a General Bishop in 1999 by
His Holiness, the late Pope Shenouda III, with whom he served as private
secretary. Since then he has specialised in initiatives relating to advocacy,
human rights, international religious freedom and development work, and is a
member of, and chairs, numerous local, national and international bodies
dealing with these matters. His Grace is founder and convener of the Asylum
Advocacy Group which works closely in partnership with the All Party
Parliamentary Group on International Religious Freedom or Belief.

As
director of the Media and Communications Office in the United Kingdom and
Europe, Bishop Angaelos frequently issues statements and comments relating to
current religious and minority issues, with his particular focus on dialogue,
conflict-resolution, and reconciliation. His comments and views are frequently sought
on matters of human rights, civil liberties and international religious
freedom, particularly in relation to the situation in Egypt, the Middle East,
and North Africa.

He
has been ecumenically active at local, national and international levels, while
also actively working in the area of inter-religious relations. He works
extensively to build bridges and promote dialogue and unity between Churches,
faiths and communities in the United Kingdom and has established and maintains
contact with governmental, inter-religious and ecumenical bodies through which
this work is enabled. Under the leadership of His Grace the Coptic Orthodox
Church is now a member of all the official ecumenical instruments in the United
Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.

Background

Bishop
Angaelos was born in Egypt and emigrated to Australia in his early childhood
with his family. After obtaining his degree in Political science, Philosophy
and Sociology, he continued on to postgraduate studies in law while working in
the same field. In 1990 he returned to Egypt to the monastery of St Bishoy in
Wadi-El-Natroun where he was consecrated a monk by the late Pope Shenouda III
and served as his private secretary until 1995 when he was delegated to serve
in the United Kingdom.

His Grace is
currently:

•Moderator of Churches Together in Britain
and Ireland

•Chair of the Council of the Oriental Orthodox
Churches in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland

•Co-chair of the Anglican-Oriental Orthodox
Regional Forum

•Member of the Anglican-Oriental Orthodox
International Commission

•Co-founder and Co-chair of the
Catholic-Oriental Orthodox Regional Forum

•Co-founder and Co-chair of the
Lausanne-Orthodox Initiative

•Moderator of the Churches’ Inter-Religious
Network for Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CIRN)

•Director of Churches Together in England

•Trustee of Churches Together in Britain and
Ireland

•Ecumenical participant of the Church of
England General Synod

•Member of the Anglican-Oriental Orthodox
International Theological Commission